


A Hero's Hero

by SoraHoshi



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Mulan AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-03
Updated: 2017-03-15
Packaged: 2018-06-06 03:11:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6735715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoraHoshi/pseuds/SoraHoshi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sakura has to prove to her new sensei that she's worth keeping around while simultaneously not falling in love with him. If she fails at not only that but hiding her identity, she will fail at protecting her father and lose the man that comes to mean more to her than she ever could've thought possible.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Criminal

**Author's Note:**

> Please enjoy the wonderful artwork that inspired this fic!
> 
> kristadlee  
> http://kristadlee.tumblr.com/post/129852429364/kristadlee-woo-sign-me-up-for-the-next-war
> 
> dattebae  
> http://dattebae.tumblr.com/post/89659967845/ive-been-quite-busy-lately-so-i-havent-really  
> http://dattebae.tumblr.com/post/89685633805/he-just-had-to-be-shirtless-didnt-he-yes-he
> 
> Edit: I realize the first link doesn't work anymore, sadly. I currently can't find the art so here's the rundown: It was a comic version of the beginning of the first scene of this fic.

A mother smiles gently at her husband and daughter greeting each other for the first time in years. Tears spring to her eyes as the turmoil in her chest is finally brought to an end.

“Great!” a throaty female voice calls.

The mother sighs and gives her own mother a tired look waiting for the old woman to ruin yet another sweet family moment with her antics.

“She brings home a sword,” the grandmother spits.

“Ma, don't be like that!” Of course, the mother was ecstatic to have her daughter home and safe. How could she be thinking of something as trivial as a souvenir? And from a war no less, instead of a beautiful vacation spot in the mountains... 

“If you ask me, she should've brought home a mas-”

“Excuse me,” a deep voice interrupts. A tall fit man with soft silver hair and a fabric mask covering half his face approaches the two women. He wears an eye patch as well, allowing the women to believe he's severely scarred. His hands tighten around a metal plate attached to a long cloth spilling from his palms. “Does Haruno Sakura live here?”

The women's jaws drop slightly at the sight of the handsome stranger asking for their daughter and granddaughter. They simultaneously point through a concrete arch, past the stream they live by to a large tree with a bench resting underneath it. The man's eyes crinkle as he gives a smile and a thank you, walking in between the women to where they point in awe.

The grandmother lets out an excited, “Woo!” startling her daughter. “Sign me up for the next war!”

“You're retired, Ma.”

The masked man approaches a large cherry blossom tree and is immediately greeted by a broad shouldered man with green eyes. He looks curiously at the stranger but otherwise says nothing. The silver-haired man bows, recognizing the man to be at least of relation to Sakura if not her father.

“Haruno-san, I-”

A woman with short pink hair and bright green eyes walks up to her father from behind, startling the silver-haired man.

“Sakura!” the man's eye widens and he freezes, “Uh...”

***

“Katsuyu-sama,” a pink haired girl whispered fiercely with wide green eyes, “I can't do this.”

Sakura Haruno, a young woman, barely 20, was smiling nervously at the men surrounding her, barely noticing the amused looks she received in return. They obviously noticed her fear as a newbie. She was in a training camp filled with men either her age or older. All of them were sitting inside large tents to stay out of the hot sun or walking around socializing with the other recruits. None of the men were properly trained by the military, though some seemed to have some natural skill in certain areas. For example, the cute black haired man with the intense gaze knew some martial arts. And the loud blond he was being talked at by had great balance and flexibility. Or so she overheard some of the other men say. Most of them have been at the camp for at least a month already, having gotten the draft notice earlier than her home. They seemed friendly enough. Well, the blond did. But even so, being surrounded by this many men was nerve wrecking. Sakura was normally a very strong person, full of confidence, but she couldn't prove herself here with her intelligence. Women were normally taught medicine if they wanted to join the military, which is what she originally planned on doing till this draft was called. She needed some physical skill that didn't draw any suspicions as to what her sex was.

The little white and blue slug hidden in the collar of Sakura's shirt sighed, “Don't worry so much. Just make sure you walk with a wide stance, deepen your voice, and don't get undressed in front of anyone.”

“Right,” Sakura muttered to her guardian, spreading her legs a bit more and stiffening the natural sway of her hips some.

Katsuyu is a white slug with three light blue stripes going down her back and is about 8 centimeters long. She was assigned to watch over Sakura as the young woman made the choice to illegally go to war to protect her family along with their country. When wanting something great, it was a common practice to keep a pure heart and ask help from those one admired. Sakura went to the shrines of the gods near her home and prayed, asking them and her private teacher for help.

“You should make acquaintances so you don't draw too much attention to yourself. Try talking to that boy over there with the spiky ponytail.”

The boy Katsuyu was talking about was laying on the grass with his hands under his head. It looked as though he was star gazing. A chubby young man was sitting on the ground next to him making light conversation with the tired looking man.

Sakura wrinkled her nose. “He looks boring. I need someone who can help me fit in. Someone with personality to teach me the ropes.”

The slug rested on Sakura's shoulder became horrified as she started towards the loud blond and brooding raven-haired man who seemed to be in the middle of a heated argument. At this point, the brooding one's smirking face was changing into one of anger. Though as angry as he seemed to be getting, he didn't seem bothered by sitting on his wooden bench while the blond leaned over him and continued yelling. Whether Sakura noticed or not, she kept walking. She cleared her throat in order to adjust her voice and gain some attention. No one noticed. Her eyebrow twitched in annoyance. She tried to put on a pleasant face while greeting the boys.

“Hey guys. What's the trouble?”

The blond turned to look directly at her while the brooding boy simply gave her a disinterested glance. She almost pouted but refrained since that would most definitely bring out her femininity. Her hair being a light pink and face having soft features was bad enough, they didn't need any more amo. Sure, she tied her hair up into a bun, but her bangs kept falling to frame her face. She didn't want to pin them up because that would show off her face too much. Admittedly, she was a little happy it was so difficult for her to look masculine, (even if it was easy to hide her breasts.)

A blush came to the blond's face as he stared. If she didn't know any better, she'd think he was checking her out. She internally smirked. _I must be really cute for a guy._

“Who're you?” he asked.

“My name's Sak-” she cleared her throat again to cover up her slip. She couldn't just blurt out her real name out of habit every time a cute guy looked her way.

“What are you doing, usuratonkachi? Looking for an escape since you know you're wrong?”

Sakura's head snapped in the direction of the brooding boy. She blushed at the sound of his deep voice but became exceedingly irritated at his tone and continued neglect to acknowledge her presence.

“Teme!” the blond boy shouted, jumping back into the argument.

The brooding boy smirked at the blond but not before sending a quick glare in Sakura's direction. She'd be more offended if she wasn't so shocked by the action. She hasn't said one word to the man and he already hated her? What was his problem? No wonder the blond boy kept yelling at him. Though, he seemed the type to yell normally... And they seemed to be getting along fine just a few minutes ago! But even if they were arguing now, why would the black-haired grump not welcome the interruption?

“What the hell?” Sakura whispered, becoming furious at the snub.

“You must be new.” Sakura jumped at the voice that popped up beside her. It came from a man with eerily pale skin and an even more eerie smile. “No one bothers interrupting Sasuke and Naruto anymore. Unless they're stupid or new.”

Sakura's eyebrow twitched at the insinuation that she could have been considered stupid. I'll show you stupid you bast- Katsuyu slithered along the back of her neck in warning, making her shiver in disgust. Sakura glared at her shoulder where the slug was hiding under her collar and took a deep calming breath. As annoyed as she was, the slug was right. If Sakura wanted to fit in, she needed to get along with the men no matter how creepy or rude they were. Maybe even especially if they were creepy or rude.

Most men around the camp ignored the rapidly escalating fight while a few a little closer to the men started to back away. Sakura sighed.

“Boys,” she started, walking rapidly closer to them.

If she was able to stop a fight that apparently people were used to happening, she could get on the good side of her superiors and quickly become a respected member of the trainees.

Sakura walked forward confidently, that feminine swagger in her step coming back as she approached the young men. Naruto's right arm was coiled back, ready to punch that smug bastard in front of him in the face. Sakura quickened her pace and grabbed his wrist with a stern frown on her face.

It all happened too fast.

No one saw it coming.

Except that everyone saw it coming and she got two warnings about interfering but chose to ignore them even though one of those warnings had been from her own guardian.

Suddenly, Sakura was on the ground with a throbbing pain on her cheek. The yelling around her got even louder, some crashes were heard, and then it was deathly silent. She held her breath to keep from groaning in pain and drawing more attention to herself.

“Are you dead?”

She opened one eye then the other at the new voice. It was deep. Deeper than Sasuke's voice. Silver locks stuck out in all directions atop his head. A dark blue mask covered his lower face, seeming to be attached to his undershirt. His right eye was dark, not quite as dark as other black eyes she's seen, but in comparison to his bright right eye, it stood out. She couldn't make it out at first, with the sun right behind his head, but his right eye seemed to be red. A flush came to her face and her heart started hammering when she saw that this man was almost nose-to-nose with her.

“Good.” he stood.

Sakura blinked up at him then sat up, not quite registering the words coming out of his mouth. She touched her cheek gingerly, checking to see if she could notice any fractures right away. It'd be shame if she would have to rest on her first week there. 

“Clean up this mess.”

“What?” she looked up at the masked man with hesitation. Was he talking to her? She looked around and saw that the two trouble makers were headed to medical while a broken bench and some scattered food and broken dishes laid next to it. This wasn't fair! She didn't make the mess!

“Excuse me,” she started.

“Anyone dumb enough to interfere with those two even when warned about them will join us for training tomorrow, after they've cleaned up the mess they made,” the masked man left no room for questions. “What's your name?”

Her angry green eyes glared at his back from her spot on the ground. “H-Haruno Sak...” she took a breath, “Satoru,” she spat out her alias excessively clearly after her initial stutter. The masked man barely turned his head back in her general direction, as if she wasn't worth his energy.

“Welcome to the army, Sa-to-ru.”

***

_A young woman came running home from school when she heard the sirens. It was a warning. A draft was happening. The war was becoming too much to handle and Konohagakure, the city of their great leader, where most ninja were born and raised, needed help from it's fellow Fire countrymen. The girl's long pink hair flew behind her as she hurried home._

_Her mother quickly took her hand and pulled her back when she tried to approach the ninja speaking to her father. A man with brown hair and a scar across his nose wearing a green vest handed her father a scroll. She knew that vest. That was the uniform of the higher ranks in the military. This was bad. Her father wasn't skilled in any kind of combat. He couldn't go to war!_

_“Dad! Please don't do this!” she cried._

_Her father ignored her, looking the ninja in the eye and apologizing for his rude daughter's behavior. Her eyes narrowed and tears sprung to her eyes as the ninja accepted the apology and they both bowed, her father taking the scroll inside the house._

_“Sakura,” her mother scolded quietly, “This is the law. One member from every family, if they are of age and able body must participate in the war. Desperate times means,”_

_“Sacrifice and honoring our country, protecting our people, I know, I know that but Dad...”_

_“I know dear. But don't worry. He's a strong man.”_

_She was of age but she knew she would be forbidden to even suggest going in place of her father even though she knew how to fight more than her father did. She was stronger and faster than him. If she went, it was way more likely she would be able to survive. Her father was too old to easily master something in the short time of training he'd receive before battle._

_She stood in front of her mirror and glared at the tear streaked face she saw. This wasn't the brave young woman her parents raised. She looked herself up and down in disgust. An able bodied girl was ready but forbidden to protect everything and everyone she cared about. She almost spit at her pathetic reflection. Suddenly, her eyes grew wide._

_Scissors came to snip away her long soft locks. Her left hand couldn't let go of the last bundle of hair she held. The person staring back at her in that mirror wasn't her, but it was also more her than any other image of herself she's ever seen. She grabbed a satchel and light jacket and quickly tip-toed to her parents' room. She opened the drawer of the bed stand and pulled out the military scroll. The drawer was left hanging open with pink strands spilling from it._

_That night, Sakura broke the rules for the first time in her life. That night, she became a thief._


	2. Lets get Down to Business

Her nose wrinkled. Something was off about this morning. The tent was up and stable, the sun was shining, it wasn't a bad night's sleep considering it was Sakura's first time in a tent outside. So why was she so uncomfortable? Sakura stretched and rubbed her face with her right hand. A slimy clear substance rubbed itself onto her hand and spread further around her face.

“Oh, gross! What the hell-Katsuyu-sama, did you sleep on my forehead last night?”

The slug laughed and explained that she was trying wake up the woman so she wouldn't be late for her first day of training. Especially after that mess that happened the day before. Sakura scowled and sat up, grabbing her training robes and putting her hair up in the boyish bun that helped counter her sharp feminine facial structure.

_Sunrise my ass. ___

Their jounin instructor had told them to be up and ready with the sun yet didn't deem it necessary to follow his own direction. Why the hell did they have to be up before him? Were they supposed to be doing some kind of warm-up ritual while waiting for him? Sakura looked around and scowled at everyone's casual demeanor. Some people looked exasperated but that's about as rustled as the group seemed. Sakura was furious. What the hell was wrong with them? Weren't they supposed to be training for war? Why weren't they more pissed off that their stupid teacher felt it okay to be this late? As far as she knew, the military was an incredibly disciplined space. But it seemed that these men were used to their idiotic teacher's tendencies and didn't mind the wait.

Sakura crossed her arms and jutted her hip out, tapping her foot impatiently. It's been two hours already. If he didn't show up in five minutes, Sakura was going to go find that irresponsible-

“Sakura,” Katsuyu whispered, “be careful of your weight distribution.”

A few of the men were giving her strange looks as she realized that her posture was not only very feminine but that it accentuated the curve of her hip. She froze then slowly straightened her back and widened her stance, allowing her clothes to hide her curves more easily. A thanks was mumbled to the slug and the woman sighed, her muscles finally relaxing a little.

“Yo,” a happy voice called from somewhere above the trainees.

Sakura turned to look behind her with the rest of the men to see their masked instructor crouching atop a wooden pole about two stories tall. Her eyebrow twitched in irritation at his sudden casual appearance. She wanted to scream. He scolded her yesterday in front of everyone and then he shows up with a smile on his face like nothing he could ever say or do could be wrong in any way shape or form. At least, she assumed he was smiling. It was hard to tell from that distance and with his mask on.

He slipped down easily with one hand around the pole and his leg bent against it. He began walking towards them all with his hands in his pockets, watching as they lined up shoulder to shoulder. Sakura glared at the man then up at the pole. Were they going to learn how to not get a splinter? The idiot probably didn't even know how to prevent that, actually.

“Today, you'll be climbing. I got up there using chakra. You won't. Tenten?”

An arrow shot from behind the cadets and hit the dead center of the top of the wooden pole. A woman then walked out from behind them, surprising Sakura. She had two buns atop her head and was wearing a more intricate sports garb than the robes that everyone else wore. She carried a bow and arrow set as well as a small black box. The pain-in-the-ass instructor walked up to the woman and opened the box, pulling out what seemed to be two too large gold coins hanging off of a black cloth.

“Two traits are needed to reach the top. If you don't have them, not only will you not reach the top, but you will be sent home.”

Sakura glanced around at the sudden tension that filled the area. She let out a deep breath and steeled herself. She wasn't strong but she was quick. If she had a running start, the momentum could give her the push she needed to help her arms pull. She's never used chakra other than when healing, so she was kind of glad she didn't have to fall on her ass when everyone else probably already knew how to use it in this way.

“Strength and discipline are equally important to be a ninja. Who can prove to me that they have both?”

The beautiful black haired asshole, Sasuke, stepped forward. The instructor handed him the black fabric and Naruto snickered along with a few others at Sasuke's wobble. If Sasuke was having trouble with the weights, who knew if Sakura would be able to even pick them up.

Sasuke crouched low to the ground and took a running start at the pole at full speed. He ended up not even halfway up before he created a rough foot shaped dent and fell on his ass. So that threw her plan out the window.

When it was finally Sakura's turn, she took a deep breath and reached to grab the fabric while staring at her doom. So far, no one had successfully even made it halfway up the pole and they were halfway through the trainees. She yelped as the coins were dropped almost passed her fingers because the asshole handing them off decided to let them go too soon. She ignored him and the snickers that followed.

Okay. Deep breath. Brace yourself. And...

Sakura almost fell over, hopping on one leg to right herself while picking the coins up off of the ground. Of course, running did nothing. She ended up doing half of a back flip off of the wood and landed on her upper back. All she could do was sigh in relief that it wasn't her neck.

She looked at the ground in disappointment as the instructor sighed, “We've got a long way to go.”

While waiting to be sent home that night, Sakura was coming up with any way to argue her way out of it. She may not be as strong as most men here, but she sure as hell was smarter. She'd convince the asshole to let her stay even if it meant flirting her way in. Was he gay? She hoped... not? Maybe? A frustrated groan left the woman's mouth and a flush came to face. This was no time to admire the attractive captain.

She paced her tent for hours constructing a point by point of why she should stay. Eventually she got tired of waiting and sat down. Her nervous energy was exhausting her but it wasn't enough for her to fall asleep. She spent another few hours writing out her list to make sure she remembered it despite how tired she was.

Before she knew it, her eyes were blinking open to the sunrise. She yelped and sat up, yelping again at the crick in her back. Falling asleep while writing was never comfortable. She changed into her other pair of robes and quickly ran out to the training field, nearly forgetting Katsuyu-sama in her hurry.

Today they seemed to be learning archery. That girl Tenten was there again and helping the captain instruct. Sakura slid as quietly as she could into line and watched as Tenten made three perfect consecutive shots on moving targets.

“Thank you for that over the top demonstration Tenten,” the captain teased. Tenten laughed and moved out of the way of the still targets.

Then without looking, the captain said, “Thank you for volunteering, Satoru.” Sakura's startled look almost made him chuckle. “Step forward. Clearly since you were late, you already know how to shoot an arrow. Why don't you show us what you can do?”

It was a beautiful day out, plenty of sun with no strong breezes. The shot was clear and should be easy to hit. With a deep breath, Sakura walked in front of a target and took a bow from Tenten. She through the satchel of arrows over her shoulder so they slung across her back. That much was obvious enough to figure out. She lifted the bow and pulled on the string to see how strong it was. It was nerve wrecking being watched by everyone, especially Captain Annoying-Hottie. With a deep breath, Sakura took an arrow to the bow and pulled back. She took her time trying to aim at the target.

She'd show him that he couldn't humiliate her, even if she was late. How did he even notice? She didn't make a sound.

Another deep breath and the arrow was released. It flew straight, heading right for the red center. Then suddenly it started to veer off course and sink. Sakura's face fell.

“One,” the criticizing voice said from behind her, “You didn't pull back far enough. Two, your stance is wrong. Three, your form is horrible. And four, don't be late.”

Sakura fumed. How dare he embarrass her like this while he's always late? Just her luck that the one time he was on time, she woke up late. And it was all his fault anyway! If he didn't scare everyone into thinking he'd kick them out for not being able to climb that ridiculous pole without the help of chakra, she wouldn't have stayed up all night! Besides, he'd be impressed if he knew how good she was at strategizing! Or actually he was more likely to think she was insane with how much time she spent planning for an argument that the others seemed to know they wouldn't have to have last night.

“Stand here.”

Sakura jumped at the hand pulling her back a few steps. She jumped again at the people suddenly on either side of her shooting at the targets. They all missed or barely scraped the edges which frustrated Sakura even more after she was humiliated like that.

“Hey! Pay attention,” the voice said again.

“Sorry. Like this?” Sakura was quick to respond to the captain's directions, telling her how to stand.

When in proper position, she took out her bow and an arrow and got ready to fire.

“Slow down.” Suddenly the voice was in her ear.

A shiver ran through Sakura's body as his muffled breath caressed her ear and her back stood against his chest. He whispered directions to her while positioning her arms. He used his right hand to lower her right shoulder. Sakura's heart rate spiked when his left hand slid down her other arm to twist it into position. His hands were warm and his chest was hard. She hoped he thought her flushed face and elevated breathing was out of anger towards him. She took a moment to swallow when he asked, “Got it?” against her ear.

“Yes, Kakashi-sensei.”

By the end of that practice session, no one had been able to hit the targets on purpose and Sakura's back was killing her. She was leaning to the side to get more comfortable and when Kakashi finally noticed, he forced her to go to medical. It was ridiculous really. The best medic her age in her country was being sent to a doctor for a simple back ache from sleeping wrong. Of course, she couldn't say why her back ached. The embarrassment meter for the day had been filled to the max. It was someone else's turn.

Sakura walked into the tent and didn't even glance the medic's way before she sat down and said, “Look, it's not serious. My back is just sore. I don't need it healed, just some cream will be fi-”

A shriek almost deafened Sakura until she looked up and made the same sound.

“Ino-pig, what the hell are you doing here?!”

“What do you mean what am I doing here? What the hell are you doing here, forehead? You had a full time job lined up at the best hospital in the country! Not to mention, you're not a man!”

“Sssh!”

Sakura covered Ino's mouth with her hands and peaked outside the tent. No one was near by luckily. She let out a breath. Of all the medics to be assigned to this unit it had to be her classmate from med school and childhood friend, Ino. Sakura didn't know if this was a good or bad thing yet.

Ino explained that after graduation she had trouble finding a job at a hospital she liked. So when the draft happened it was the perfect opportunity for her. No one in her household was a ninja so she volunteered to be a medic. Her parents had no problems with that since she wouldn't be fighting and the government accepted her as the one volunteer from the Yamanaka household.

“You know I have to report you right?” Ino said after a pause.

“Please, you can't!” Sakura was desperate so she decided to tell Ino the truth. “You know my dad's a ninja, but he retired long ago. He wanted to raise a family. They were going to force him into battle again! He'll never survive this. He-”

Ino hugged Sakura as she let a few tears fall. The fear of her father being killed tormented Sakura for days until she made her decision.

“Okay,” Ino said.

“Okay?”

“I'll help you keep your secret.”

Sakura was about to strangle her with thank yous and hugs when Ino held up a finger, “But! I don't know any of this, got it? If you get caught and it gets out that I knew the truth, we're both screwed. I'm not getting in trouble over this, got it?”

Sakura nodded vigorously and hugged her friend. They couldn't spend long catching up since Sakura's injury wasn't severe. But Sakura was happy to have someone to go to for emergencies. Ino would definitely be able to help her out if she needed anything on her period. Plus she wouldn't have to hide her body when she got injured. It was the perfect accidental set up. When Sakura went to her tent that night, she said a quick prayer of thanks to the gods before bed.

The only problem was that Sakura wasn't doing so well with training. She'd have to step it up, and fast. Or she'd be sent home and the authorities would take her father.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been a VERY long time... but I hope you enjoyed chapter two!


End file.
